As known in the art, a color liquid crystal display (LCD) panel 1 has a two-dimensional array of pixels 10, as shown in FIG. 1. Each of the pixels comprises a plurality of sub-pixels, usually in three primary colors of red (R), green (G) and blue (B). These RGB color components can be achieved by using respective color filters. The array of pixels 10 is organized in rows and columns and a plurality of gate lines are used to select or activate the pixels in the rows and a plurality of data lines are used to provide data to the pixels in the columns. Thus, the LCD panel 1 is generally has a gate driver 300 to provide gate-line signals in the gate-lines and a data driver 200 to provide data signals to the data lines.
In some LCD panels, each color sub-pixel has two sub-pixel segments. As shown in FIG. 2, each pixel 10 has two red sub-pixel segments 12a, 12b; two green sub-pixel segments 14a, 14b; and two red sub-pixel segments 16a, 16b on the same row. While one sub-pixel segment is selected or turned on by a gate-line signal in one gate line, the other sub-pixel segment is selected or turned on by the combination of gate line signals in two gate lines. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the sub-pixel segment 12b is selected by the gate line signal in gate line G1 on Row 1, whereas the sub-pixel segment 12a is selected by the combination of the gate line signal in gate line G1 and the gate line signal in gate line G2 in Row 2. The data lines D1, D2, D3 provide data signals only to sub-pixel segments 12b, 14b and 16b. The electrode of the sub-pixel segment 12a in a row is connected to the electrode of the sub-pixel segment 12b in the next row. The electrode of the sub-pixel segment 14a in a row is connected to the electrode of the sub-pixel segment 14b in the next row. The electrode of the sub-pixel segment 16a in a row is connected to the electrode of the sub-pixel segment 16b in the next row.
In such an LCD panel, the gate line signal in each gate line includes a front-pulse and a rear pulse as shown in FIG. 3.
As shown in FIG. 3, the rear pulse is two times longer than the front pulse. The front pulse in gate line G2 occurs in the first half of the rear pulse in gate line G1. The front pulse in gate line G3 in Row 3 occurs in the first half of the rear pulse in gate line G2, and so on. The special waveform in the data signals in data lines D1, D2, etc. is designed to improve the visual effect, known as color washout, in a liquid crystal display. The arrangement of the sub-pixel segments and the control transistors is known as a multi-switch architecture